Green Plastics Video

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/11077939" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/11077939">ChemMatters - Episode 2: Plastics Go Green</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/acs">ACS Pressroom</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Green Plastics Video Reflection

 

How are these plastics being developed?


These plastics are developed by plants like the sugar beet, corn and sugar cane which make the production of plastics more environmentally friendly. Nature Works, a company that make that largest amount of Bioplastic in the States.

 

What makes these plastics "green?"
 They can be used to make bags knives, forks spoons, that is not all it can also be stretched into fibers that are made to knit socks, hats and more. Bio plastic is made into many different types of things, that is why it is so environmentally friendly.












What are some issues with plastics that were mentioned?
     It takes a lot of energy to grow these plants, the amount of pesticide is enormous, and the amount of the extra pesticide that goes into the water system is also very big. Making Bio Plastic takes almost the same amount of energy as making the normal plastic. The amount to room the crops take up is another issue of Bio Plastic. Many scientists say that creating more farm land that is not used for food could end up being a huge problem. Yet they still  don't know the actual risks of Bio Plastic, but is it worth it for our human race to survive?


How might these green plastics change packaging practices?
   Green Plastics might change the view on how some people look at the amount of things they through away, this might cause them to become more aware of what they consume. Hopefully Bio Plastics will be a good start for humans to try and conserve our precious earth.
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/11077939" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/11077939">ChemMatters - Episode 2: Plastics Go Green</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/acs">ACS Pressroom</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Food Inc Reflection

 Food Inc

After watching Food Inc, what are your impressions of how science of food industry, technology of food industry, and society are interrelated?

After watching Food Inc, I couldn’t eat my food the way I used to. This movie was a very powerful movie; I think it really affects the people who watch it. I couldn’t eat my food because I was so curious on where my food was coming from, how many miles it had flown around the world to be eaten in less than a half an hour. My mom was really aghast to the fact that cows were wading in their own manure, and how badly they were treated. I was amazed that scientists have altered the cow’s diet to eat something that is cheap and easy to process, in reality the cow can’t even process the corn, which creates a bigger problem. These are very scientists, they have figured out away to feed these cows and chickens something that cost so little, yet they don’t know how harmful it can be. After watching this movie I reflected the fact that many people in world and in the US aren’t aware of what they eat. How many people think they are eating pure farm grown beef, which are treated with care and kindness? After watching this movie I realized how much of the US is not governed by the government, but by the food producers.

How did the film describe science & technology as a positive or negative impact on society or the environment?

I think that the producers of Food Inc had a very good way of bringing both a positive and negative effect to the awareness of the viewers. They showed us what some of the big meat packing companies were like, and they also showed us what the real farmers were like, giving us a taste of both the bitter and the sweet, in my opinion I thought they did a very good job. Food Inc needed to prove a point, they needed society to realize that we aren’t eating a farm fresh product; we are eating a product that has been processed shipped and frozen containing meat from thousands of cows. The film described the science & technology mostly as a negative impact on society. Food Inc wanted to the public to be aware of the big impact of what we eat does to the environment and to us as humans. Over all I thought this movie was a powerful movie and I hope that the public becomes even more aware of what they are eating.

How do our consumer choices affect what is out on the market and therefore, our own species survival?

Just like anything living, we eat and drink to survive. Today we have numerous products of food that fill up the big supermarkets. What we don’t know is that the supermarket is filled with only a few types of producers, many of which are Tyson, Stonyfield and many more. These companies disguise their in different colors, packages and containers to make it look like we have a variety of food to choose from. Supply and Demand, two words that make a world of difference, as consumers we love food, products and stuff… they supply us with our “stuff” which affect the market of continuously becoming bigger and bigger. With our growing needs of the market and population, the over production of food has almost become something that we need to do for us all to live in this world. As our world grows, our wants and needs grow also which impact the way we live and our environment we live in. The effect of supply and demand is huge, if we want something we are going to get it because it means someone’s going to get a boat load of money which goes right in their pocket. 

How are we as humans connected to how the Earth is used?

Our earth endures a lot in our time, we have dirtied its water, smogged its air and yet it still provides us with all our needs and wants. As humans our main goal is to stay alive, this goal has been along for a very long time. We have evolved from our crude tools to our genetically modified tomatoes, our ancestors did not need a lot to survive, now we do a lot more than we used to. Our human impact on earth is called our Carbon Foot print, we all have one, some more than others each foot print effect our world in many ways. As our human population grows our earth is used more and more, if don’t do something about it who know what will happen to our earth. The best thing that we can do is take action and save and preserve as much as we can. As science progresses through time and we learn more about our precious earth hopefully we can find a way to conserve our earth. Humans have a big problem have a huge problem with over population and over production. As more and more people are born, more of the Carbon Foot Print is produced, and less of the earth is available for our use.

A few ideas that popped up in conversation throughout the movie were:

When I was watching the movie not only ideas popped into my head but questions.

• When did this start, when did we start to have such a demand of meat?

• Is there a reason for the old Tyson workers to now be working with the government?

• Why is the government cracking down on the immigrants who have been working in the states for years instead of the companies who brought them to the states in the first place?

• Why aren’t there more movies like Food Inc?

• Why wasn’t this movie a bestseller? Did the government have something to do with how public this movie was??

When do we say "no" to more high tech devices and go back to what caused the problem in the first place? Why are we only into the "HOW" things work and not the "WHY" things don't? What did this farmer mean?

I think that the farmer was trying to say is how many products are produced, how many cows were slaughtered in a year, not why were so many cows slaughtered this year. Because of the new technologies produced and the factor of supply and demand, farmers don’t consider why they are killing so many cows; they do this to be able to pay their bills and expenses. The supply and demand of America is huge, if there is something that we want; we get it because many people are willing to pay. One of the reasons why we have a big supply and demand is that not a lot of people know where our food is coming from. If the farmers consider the why and how many cows and chickens they are killing maybe we can become more aware of where our food is coming from.

What is the difference between natural farming and industrial farming? Which is better? Are they both necessary for human survival? Why or why not?

The difference between natural farming and industrial farming is the amount of animals killed and slaughtered every year. Natural farming do not have an assembly line and it is not dangerous to work in, it is a safe clean environment and the animals actually graze on grass which they have evolved to do, unlike eating corn. Natural farming is a lot better than industrial farming because there is a lot less like chance of getting sick with natural farming. The cows in industrial farming are fed corn because it is cheap and easy to process, a cow’s diet is not made up of corn, they are a grazing animal, an animal of which grazes on grass. Feeding corn to a cow creates an even bigger problem, because they can’t digest the corn it is stuck in there stomach. The “farmers” then have to remove the not digested corn, or else E-Coli will disease the cows when they are wading in each other’s manure. That is another problem with industrial farming because there are so many cows and not enough room they have to wade in each other’s manure. I defiantly think that for humans to survive there should be an equal balance between the industrial farming and natural farming because if one out balances the other there is a big problem. If natural farming over balances industrial farming the farmers will need more and more land for their animals. The industrial farming is the “over balancer” now, because of so many animals are slaughtered a day, diseases could be a very big problem. I hope that in a few years industrial farming will become more to the public eye, and maybe that will trigger this balance.

If technology and industry have improved so much that we are getting faster, fatter, bigger, and cheaper, how are science and technology held responsible for improving or ruining human health and survival?

Instead of a chicken growing at a regular rate, it is grown at half that time. It all goes back to supply and demand; the more eggs we want the more we have to produce unless we want to go out of business. The demands for eggs just kept getting bigger and bigger, so what did scientists do? Invent and genetically modify chickens to grow faster and bigger to support our needs. I don’t think this is something that one category is responsible for, I think it is all of us just consuming. We are all accountable for the things that we consume; I mean the scientists have to eat also. As a team we are responsible for looking and the why and the how we can decide to ruin our health or not, it is all about supply and demand.

What economic costs, environmental costs, ethical costs, health costs, and cultural costs did you observe while watching the film?

One thing that my dad always says is that everything costs, and in reality it does. We see a free sample at the supermarket, does it cost directly to you, no. It does cost the store, the person who drove it to the supermarket, all in all everything costs. Industrial farming is a very costly subject, all the little factors that go into raising feeding “caring” for the cow, COSTS! It doesn’t just cost the “farmers,” it costs the environment, all of it costs, no matter what.

Finally, state your final thoughts about this film and any changes you see happening in the food industry in the future or even your own eating habits.

If I were to state all my thoughts on this film this blog post would go on for another six pages. To sum all my thoughts up I would to state that after watching Food Inc, my perspective of food completely changed. Before I had watched this movie I was oblivious to the fact of where my food was coming from, everything has changed. I hope that this movie becomes more public so that other people can become more aware of what they eat.

Current Events- Fantastic Flying Snake!

Fantastic Flying Snakes!
National Geographic

Leaping Lizards, a snake that flies! When you think of a snake, you think of a slithery slimy creature that doesn’t fly. However many snakes do slither around on the ground, but the Chrysopelea or commonly known as the Flying snake, (hence the name) actually flies!! The snake’s body flings its body into the air when there is a strong updraft and it glides through the air to the other trees. When the Flying Snake leaps into the air, the speed from the free fall falling catches surface area of the snake. This makes the snakes glide through the air. The snake propels itself by shaping itself into letter forms (for example the letter “S” or “C”); they do this constantly in the air which helps them glide through the air. Ranging between 2 feet to 4 four feet, these animal glide through the air in Southeast and South Asia. Scientists on the other hand are not quite sure why these animals fly; it is very likely that evolved to escape from predators or to even to catch their prey. Nevertheless, in our wonderful world there are snakes that fly, how awesome is that!

Wow! That was a crazy article that I read! When I first started reading about this creature, I thought they were just kidding! Then I researched more on the topic and I found that it was a real type of snake! Holy Cow! I am not particularly scared of snakes, but if I saw on fly through the air above me, I would definitely be scared! Even though it might scare my half to death, I would still love to see one of these snakes… maybe in a zoo. Anyways, these animals are extremely interesting. I wonder if something in its process of evolution causes it to fly or glide through the air. I hope that scientists keep researching this incredible animal to find out the hidden mysteries of the Flying Snake.

Sites Used

Back, By Undulating. "Flying Snakes, Flying Snake Pictures, Flying Snake Facts - National Geographic." Animals, Animal Pictures, Wild Animal Facts - National Geographic. Web. 23 Nov. 2010. <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/flying-snake/>.

Investigating Food Webs with Owl Pellets

Owls are beautiful animals; they have long stunning wings, razor sharp talons and keen black eyes. Owls are a very interesting bird on the outside and on the inside. Our 7^th grade class has been working on a lab for the past month and we have come to the sadly come to the end of our unit and our lab. Our 7^th grade class has dissected owl pellets and analyzed them very carefully, in the past month we have learned a lot about owls and the interesting digestive system they have in their body. Owls are nocturnal, this means that they sleep in the day and hunt at night just like bats. Owls also have a special way of eating its prey, instead of taking small bites, the owl eats its prey whole. The owl’s stomach is very strong; it digests the animal leaving only the bones and fur. After this process is finished, the owl then regurgitates the fur and bones to what leave a pellet, an owl pellet.

After the brief introduction about owls I will now tell you about the Barn Owls meal. The owl that regurgitated the pellet was a Barn owl. I have created a pie chart to help explain what the owl ate.

Questions

 Based upon the class data, rank the most frequently consumed prey for the class “owl population”.

Based upon the class data the most frequently consumed animal was the rat, it ranked 40% in the cumulative total biomass. This could mean that around the place where these Barn owls live is a big population of rats, maybe even a problem for the people living around the forest where the owls live. These Barn owls could be a huge help for anyone who has problems with rats. It could also mean that the population of Barn owls could be high and the rat population could be at risk of being over eaten.

A predator expends energy when hunting for food. Which is more “energy expensive” cuisine, 35 insects at 1 gram each or one 35 gram vole?

                In my opinion I think I would rather eat a 35 gram vole than 35 1 gram insects because the amount of effort of chasing down the 35 insects would be much greater than just chasing down one vole. The animal that is considered more “energy expensive” would be the insects, if you think about it, when you ketch one insect you have to go and find another because one insect isn’t enough, in the end you would probably burn off the energy the first insect gave you before you could find the next insect. So eating a 35 gram vole is a lot easier and more energy efficient.

Try to define the food-getting “strategy” for a predator.

                Each predator has a very unique way of seeking out its prey. The bat has very poor sight but its hearing is very good and that is what leads him to his midnight snack. Natural selection is like Mother Nature’s gift to all the animals in order for them to survive. Natural selection is the characteristic that gives the predator the ability to survive; these include genetic qualities that are best suited for that particular environment. Mother Nature’s gift the owl the amazing eyes which allows the owl to see well in the dark.

Based upon your data, suppose the shrew population seriously declined, would it affect the areas of the owl population?

                On our information no, it would probably not affect the owl’s diet. That doesn’t mean that the other animals in the forest that eat the shrew aren’t affected. The owl pellets found were probably found around the same area, maybe the reason why the shrew were not a dominate substance in the owls diet is maybe because of the amount of shrew in the area. If the population of the shrew was low in the area where those owls lived and the owl population wasn’t effected that means the shrew did not play a big role in the owls diet.

 

Here is a diagram of a Barn Owl's diet. This picture shows what the owl eats and how energy flows from the primary consumers all the way up to the Top predator.

Conclusion

           The investigation on Food Webs and Owl Pellets I thought was so much fun! I thought it was very interesting and cool to learn about!! As I said before owls are beautiful creatures,  they have adapted to live and hunt at night this makes them very good at hunting at night. The are often referred to as the "flying mouse trap." This is because the are so good at hunting. Owl pellets provide a clue to owls’ diet and the role in their ecosystem, this helps scientists help calculate the population of, for example the rat population. Also by studying the owl pellet we can kind of understand how the owl's digestive system works.

New Self-Cloning Lizard Found in Vietnam Restaurant

New Self-Cloning Lizard Found in Vietnam Restaurant

Brian Handwerk

For National Geographic News

Published November 8, 2010

Current Event By: Blaise Sevier

Photograph courtesy Lee Grismer

                Have you ever thought of eating a lizard for a snack or dinner? I haven’t but although I have heard it tastes like chicken. L. Lee Grismer is one of the founders of the Leiolepis ngovantrii a self cloning lizard found in many restaurants in Vietnam. As he was passing through this small town in Vietnam he saw a strange sight, people eating a lizard that was unknown to scientists! Crazy to think that some people were eating something that no one knew about till now! Crazy right, but that is not all. As scientists researched more in this topic they found that all the lizards are female! Thus concludes that this new tasty lizard is not only for chomping but also can clone itself! The team of scientists who wanted to know more about this reptile had a hard time finding it… alive. "When we finally got there, this crazy guy had gotten drunk and served them all to his customers," recalled Lee Grismer, who has received funding for other projects from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. (The Society owns National Geographic News.) Later they searched for the lizard around the restaurants finding 70 wild lizards, all female.

                When I read this article I was stunned! These people were eating a lizard that had no records at all with scientists! I am not sure if I would eat something that scientists don’t know about, what about the risks? Nevertheless it is a delectable dish that is dined in Vietnam and so far it hasn’t done any harm. Knock on Wood. I hope that this will continue to be a safe dish for people to eat because eventually I would love to try it! Who knows it could end up to be my favorite dish in the world! Although that this animal does not have a lot of information on it, hopefully in the next few years more information will start popping up about other kinds of animals that weren’t known the world’s eye! I hope that the Vietnamese keep this diverse tradition and conserve it for as long as they can.

Sites Used:

Handwerk, Brian. "New Self Cloning Lizard Found in Vietnam." Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/11/101108-new-lizard-virgin-birth-vietnam-science-animals/>.

The Human Footprint- Reflection

The Human Footprint

What is sustainability?

sus·tain·able* -adj \sə-ˈstā-nə-bəl\

a : of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged <sustainable techniques> <sustainable agriculture>

Give examples of ways that you can lessen your human footprint.

·         Buy organic and local.

·         Pay attention to packaging.

·         Ditch bottled water.

·         Energy-proof your home.

·         Unplug it!

·         The Three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle.

What is a human footprint?

 The amount of greenhouse gases and specifically carbon dioxide emitted by something (as a person's activities or a product's manufacture and transport) during a given period of time.

What do you think the video was trying to get across to you? 

                I think that the movie we watched was trying to show us how much we consume in a life time. The movie wanted to really make us aware of the amount of things we use, consume and waste by comparing different objects. For example the amount of showers we take in a life time was shown to us in little rubber ducks. 

Find out what an Ecological Footprint is.  What does Earth have to do with our footprint?

Ecological Footprint is the ecological impact of our activities and operations on our environment. The earth is and its resources provide us with everything, and when we pollute our earth it affects each and everything on this planet.

Describe some global impacts that occur because of consumerism.

con·sum·er·ism*- Noun \kən-ˈsü-mə-ˌri-zəm, -mər-ˌi-\

Definition of CONSUMERISM

1

: The promotion of the consumer's interests

2

: The theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable; also: a preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods 

                At least once in our life time we have all been shopping, without consumerism a society could not function, it needs some sort of consumption. We all consume all the time, but the real problem is how much we consume. Day in and day out we are badgered by advertisements, billboards, newspapers who are trying to get us to consume more. They all sell different things, the only thing they all have in common is the message they are giving out to the public. The more we consume, the better our lives will be. When we look at the big picture, that fact is not true. As consumers we don’t always know the cost of what we are buying. Take the banana here in Belgrade; have you seen any farm grown bananas around? I haven’t seen any but the ones in the supermarket that are shipped here from places around the world. Have you ever wondered while you are buying this product how many miles it has traveled to get here? How much fuel has been spent to get it here, now try and figure out how much this banana would cost if it was locally grown? The bananas would cost quite a lot less right? Every little act of consumption is linked to the big picture of consumerism. The big picture is how the world is being effected global warming and our effect of consumption and consumerism.  

Reflect on what you learned about your family behaviors and actions and what type of Footprint you are leaving on the planet.

  I definitely think that our family needs to become more aware on the effects of our carbon footprint. We can always do better, but we have started to recycle and put in energy efficient light bulbs. I hope that when we learn more about our carbon footprint we take more of an action then we are now.

Write down some ways that you believe you could lessen your footprint. 

·         Remembering to turn off lights, I think that is super important for our family to do. Turning off the lights could majorly affect our family’s footprint.

·         Unplugging things that we don’t need. Before we watched the movie, I never knew that keeping something plugged in still uses energy even when it is done charging.

·         Baths, my sister loves to take baths but the amount of water wasted is enormous! I find when you are taking a bath you are bathing in your own filth. Yuck! Yet I do find it relaxing.

Were there any facts that surprised you from the website?

·         Planet earth supports over 6.1 billion people and 30 million fellow species.

·         If everyone on Earth lived like the average Canadian, we would need more than four Earths to provide all the materials and energy we currently use. I wonder how many earths America would have…

·         Currently we use about 2.2 hectares per person. We are running a deficit of -.4 hectares per person. We are using more than we actually have!

Those facts were popped out at me like a gummy bear in a vegetable plate!!

What about from the video we watched in class?

 I learned a whole bunch of extremely interesting facts about the wildest things. I will show you some of the facts that I learned.

·         83% of the world is in use.

·         Americans eat 40 billion hamburgers in a year.

·         On average Americans will eat 1,423 chickens in a life time.

·         On average a person will eat 25 pounds of candy in a year.

·         Each person will throw away 15 tons of trash in a life time.

·         100,078 cans of soda opened every day.

·         1.2 million gallons of water, a person will waste in a life time.

·         Sewer lines could wrap around the world 24 times!

·         A person spends more time on beauty than education.

·         125 million cell phones are thrown away every year.

·         2 acres of land are cleared every minute.

·         We will take about 37,320 pills in a life time.

What were some facts that stuck in your head and really made you think about human behavior on our planet? 

  I think that the fact that stuck in my head and will remain in my head is the amount of water we use in a life time. I mean, 1.2 million gallons of water, each person will use in a life time! That is just crazy to me! Now think about it, 1.2 million multiplied by the billions of people around the world that is a lot of water around the world wasted. My question is, when will the world’s water completely gone? Or because of the water cycle, the cycle with continue.

Finally, click on You Can Help to get some ideas about what you can do to help lessen the footprint you leave.

·         Start with the 3 R’s Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

·         Make sure you aren’t taking baths frequently.

·         Turn off lights and unplug things that aren’t needed.

·         Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.

  BY Blaise Sevier

*  Definitions from Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary

Current Events- Jellyfish Swarms: Menacing or Misunderstood?

Jellyfish Swarms: Menacing or Misunderstood?

Blaise Sevier

 2010-11-09

LiveScience.com

Jellyfish, they seem like very calm creatures that just ride the waves, that fact is true, but they are also very dangerous creatures. Jellyfish have very fierce tentacles that can sometimes even kill people! Even though jellyfish are 95% water some jellyfish’s’ tentacles’ can grow to be half the length of a football field! Did you know that Jellyfish have no brain, no blood, or a nervous system? Jellyfish aren’t as harmless as you think they are the cause many problems in waters. Jellyfish block cooling systems of power plants, kill penned salmon and clog fishing nets. In the past few years’ studies have shown that there have been more Jellyfish swarms. What scientists conclude in this study is that the Jellyfish are taking advantage of the changes in the oceans environment. Some of the changes in the oceans environment are the factor of warmth; this could be the reason why this species is expanding so rapidly. Overfishing is a big problem in the world; this factor helps the Jellyfish by reducing the predators and the competition in the waters. Surprisingly pollution is also a factor that benefits the Jellyfish. Pollution in the water promotes phytoplankton blooms, which Jellyfish love to eat.  Some scientists think that this could majorly affect our earth; other scientists think that it’s all part of a healthy ecosystem. I guess with some more research we will find out whether this is a big problem or not, hopefully when we get the results back we will have some good news.

Finding out about Jellyfish was extremely interesting! Whoever knew that some Jellyfishes tentacles’ grew to half the size of a soccer field?! When we lived in Egypt there was a ton of Jellyfish, some as small as your fist, others as big as your head! I remember one time my friend and I we were at the beach and wading out in the water and a ton of Jellyfish started swarming around us! Thankfully they didn’t sting, but what we did notice is that the beach with a lot of trash in the water had the most Jellyfish; the beach with not as much trash did not have any at all! I found this to be very puzzling, why would the Jellyfish want our trash? Is there some sort of ingredient in it that the Jellyfish like, or is the Jellyfishes food source weak? Could these Jellyfish be adapting to the gross polluted environment, or could they be just good at adapting? Is that the reason why these animals have survived so long?

Parry, By Wynne. "Jellyfish Swarms: Menacing or Misunderstood? ? | Overfishing & Climate Change & Pollution, Marine Ecosystem | LiveScience." LiveScience | Science, Technology, Health & Environmental News. Web. 09 Nov. 2010. <http://www.livescience.com/animals/rise-of-the-jellyfish-101007.html>.

"Google Image Result for Http://www.funny-potato.com/images/animals/jellyfish/jellyfish.jpg." Google. Web. 09 Nov. 2010. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.funny-potato.com/images/animals/jellyfish/jellyfish.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.funny-potato.com/jellyfish.html&usg=__1MYKbkiqDgOLYpNVUWeRR_msqLg=&h=334&w=500&sz=227&hl=en&start=0&sig2=eW4Y-nc82Fdo7iAyVN5_9g&zoom=1&tbnid=LWL36DU9Lx_BqM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=190&ei=Cm7ZTI3bG4i6jAfwsrXfCA&prev=/images?q=jellyfish&um=1&hl=en&biw=1503&bih=604&tbs=isch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=659&vpy=128&dur=671&hovh=138&hovw=208&tx=174&ty=90&oei=Cm7ZTI3bG4i6jAfwsrXfCA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0>.

Current Events- Brobdingnagian Roaches (Huge Roaches)

                

 Or

            Finding a big bug inside your house is usually very unpleasant. Finding an enormous cockroach in your house is extremely unpleasant. New studies show why these cockroaches are so large nowadays compared to a hundred years ago. First we need to do some research about these insects.  Did you know that cockroaches have white blood? Or that they can live a week without water with their head chopped off? This creature is not only a pest to people; it is also some people’s appetizer. Many people in Cambodia enjoy the light snack of a crunchy cockroach, let me guess, does it taste like chicken? Back to the topic, so why are cockroaches larger than they were years ago? Well, studies show that cockroaches shrink their breathing organs and redirecting their energy to other vital tissues, they do this by taking the extra oxygen in the air. Quite smart, don’t you think? That isn’t all; many insects become larger after the air around them has more oxygen in it. The roach’s air tube become narrower but still allows them to breath. "Our main interest is how paleo-oxygen levels would have influenced the evolution of insects," Said the researchers from Geological Society of America “The next step is to examine the tracheal tubes of insects fossilized in amber to determine whether their side reveals past oxygen levels.”

        When I first stumbled upon this article I found it to be gross, but as I read on I found it to be amazing! A bug that small can enlargen itself by just being in an area with a lot of oxygen! I found this to be crazy, I never knew that these bugs can adapt so well! Learning about something that I don't really find very interesting was super cool! What I am very interested about now, after reading and summarizing the article is, what other insects can do this? Did they evolve over time? Did the pollution from factories decrease the amount of growth of a population of insects in an area? Could this animal shrink instead of grow?

Sites that I used

Pappas, By Stephanie. "Why Today's Cockroaches Are the Biggest Ever | Insects: Roaches, Dragonflies & Bugs, Fossils | LiveScience." LiveScience | Science, Technology, Health & Environmental News. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://www.livescience.com/animals/cockroaches-giant-insects-101101.html>.

Vbright105, By. "Cockroaches Facts and Myths." Squidoo : Welcome to Squidoo. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://www.squidoo.com/cockroaches-facts-and-myths>.

Pictures Shown Links

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nDOOka1_pIglJH6xFBcF-1Lzyja3PZWfmC75-oOCU9gGf8HmA1_aNOX8ZzAkr0ZXer9wq9A_2XO6rfHVHjFNkKc2NhV7_VRpnBUWhoxwN8e_UAqaALyFI0CE8KCzHc4rCQWBob0XAZI/s1600/Cockroach2.jpg

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1978341094195800091&postID=8687580104565056372

Genetically Modified Things- Project

Here are links to my Videos!
http://www.animasher.com/watch/198504_1167692367 - this is Genetically Modified Animals
http://www.zimmertwins.com/node/1063135 - this is my intro for Genetically Modified Things
http://www.dvolver.com/live/movies-470827- GM Plants part 1
http://www.dvolver.com/live/movies-471846 - GM Plants part 2
http://goanimate.com/movie/0wrWmwEen6Kw/1 - GM Fruit
 PLEASE REMEMBER TO MUTE IT, BECAUSE OF THE ANNOYING SONG THAT WILL NOT DELETE.
Thanks!
-Blaise